Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

• Fermented soy product of South Asia, Limbu and other tribal groups in Eastern Nepal and north-eastern India.
• Basic solid-state fermentation, cooked soybeans provided alkaline conditions and high humidity and left out in the air for several days.
• Takes a bit funky smell and flavor, sticky, slimy texturesimilar to that of natto in Japan,similar ferments.
• Also takes on a deep earthy flavor, reminiscent of smoked cheese, and possibly slightly-off onion etcetera.
• It’s an acquired taste and flavor, outside the veggies has smell reminiscent of old socks of messy teenagers
• consumed and distributed in dried form when the effect is a lot less intense, smells like funky cheese in dried form.
• When cooked, gives ‘smoky’ vibes…
• Consumed as vegetable curry and pickles, eaten with rice and corn products as a side dish.
• Used for base flavor with added strong other flavors to mask the powerful aroma.
• few solid-state basic nature ferment.
• easy to do, important to not overuse in a dish.
• Adds a complexity and depth to standard dishes that can be impressive if the eater doesn’t know what it is.
• Connoisours of strong european cheeses, and japanese natto will specially find it to be yummy.

Kinema is a fermented soy product of South Asia, used by the Limbu and other tribal groups in Eastern Nepal and Northeastern India. It goes by many different names, and there’s even a popular Bollywood movie about it. It involves a basic solid-state fermentation. Cooked soybeans are provided with alkaline conditions and high humidity and left out to ferment for a couple of days in warm temperatures. It takes on a bit of a funky smell and flavor. The texture is sticky and slimy, quite similar to that of natto in Japan, which is a very similar ferment. The one major difference is that natto takes a starter culture to get started, but kinema (and “Akuni,” which is the name of the movie) starts using microbes available in the ambient environment. The flavor is kind of deep and earthy, reminiscent of smoked cheese, possibly slightly off onions. If you don’t like strongly flavored cheeses, it’s an extremely acquired smell, taste, and flavor. It can have a smell reminiscent of old socks if not properly treated. However, once it’s cooked inside a curry, mixed with other vegetables and cooked for a decent amount of time, particularly with sour acids added, it loses a lot of its pungency, and only the deep flavor remains, which impresses a lot of people because they can’t quite figure out where it comes from, and it reminds them of umami.

So, it’s consumed and distributed in dried form, and the effect is a lot less intense than when fresh. It smells mostly like funky cheese in dried form. You can also powder it and add it as an interesting spice to your vegetables and curries. When cooked, it gives a smoky vibe to your curries.

It can be consumed in vegetable curries and pickles. It can be eaten with rice and corn products as a side dish, which is what’s done in Northeastern India and Eastern Nepal. It is used as a base flavor with additional strong flavors added to mask the less popular aroma. It’s one of the very few solid-state ferments, and particularly a basic one at that, versus acidic ferments, which are almost all the other ferments. It’s really easy to ferment. You just must remember to not overuse it in a dish and make sure it’s a powerful weapon to wield. It adds a strong complexity and depth to standard dishes that can be quite impressive.

As I said earlier, connoisseurs of strong European cheeses and Japanese natto will especially find it yummy. I have made three or four different batches of it. I can’t eat it every day in a row for a long time, but every couple of weeks, it’s a pleasant surprise, and I’m always impressed by the level of depth and complexity it adds to a dish.

I imagine it would go particularly well with meat curries, especially those of red meats, but as somebody who does not eat meat products, I can’t vouch for that, and I don’t want to make my… take the risky experiment with expensive cuts of meat.